#originally was just gonna go for the 'group gets captured callum does lighting and also gets electrocuted'

[raayllum]

When she didn't perk up, he added, "If you really want to make sure we're a fierce fighting party though, there is something that might be cool to try."

"Dumb idea face," she said skeptically, but she nodded for him to go on anyway.

He hoped his excitement would be infectious. "I was looking through Macchus' book of runes, and apparently elven weapons can channel magic too? So I could like, make my fulminus spell course through your weapons. You have to admit, that sounds pretty cool."

Rayla's eyes widened by a fraction, and it was enough to make Callum smile. "Really? Hm. Well, as long as you don't electrocute me like you did the first time you were learning fulminus."

"Hey, I didn't electrocute you last night."

Rayla flushed. "You didn't," she relented, smiling slightly.

"Plus, I'm the first human mage in well—maybe forever, and you're a badass elf assassin, and we're probably the first human-elf couple in a while, too. We're already super cool. Why not look like it, right? My magic and your swords."

"Alright, alright," she said, fighting a growing smile, "I'll give your ideas of grandeur a shot one of these days. I do like the idea of looking even cooler than I already do. Happy?"

They unlocked Callum's cell, and they pulled him to his feet, roughly pushing him forward. They forced him down to his knees as Arnath looked down at him with glittering, gold eyes. "What's your name?" he demanded.

"What's it to you?" Callum said, glowering back. The anger was streaked with pain when Arnath drew back a hand and slapped him so hard the sound echoed around the dingy halls of whatever sort of compound they were in.

"Your name," Arnath said.

[...] 

Callum pushed himself up. "Don't touch her—" His fingers began tracing aimlessly in the dark, and it gave him a very, very stupid idea. They thought he was just a regular human, and that was going to be their undoing. He drew the rune, making sure his aim was true—he couldn't afford to almost hit Rayla—and then shouted, "Fulminus!"

Lightning exploded from his fingertips. His arms prickled and stung, as if lightning was being drawn from beneath his skin, before the impact pushed him back onto the ground. For a moment, he couldn't see, as the most lightning he'd ever conjured set the room ablaze. It took down a few of the elves, and Arnath let Callum drop as a Skywing's elf's wings fanned out angrily.

"But you don't have—" Arnath hissed, eyes narrowing. "It doesn't matter what you are. You'll still be dead by the end of this. And so you can't use those hands of yours again—Zephyr?"

The Skywing elf drew the rune as Arnath kept Callum's hands in a tight, burning grip, and he felt the heat of the lightning before it hit him. It was pain beyond the imaginable, cooking his veins from the inside out and piercing his chest, snaking all the way down. Callum screamed, blood in his mouth.

In Search of Silver Linings, Ch 11, June 2019 / Book 5: Ocean, 2023

#rayllum #tdp callum #caylangst #arc 2 #pre canon #fic: in search of silver linings #predictions achieved #originally was just gonna go for the 'group gets captured callum does lighting and also gets electrocuted' #but upon rereading caught that this chapter ALSO had the battle couple convo so #two for the price of one #my fic #co written with #thosefiveadoraburrs #mine